Post by anon on Feb 14, 2007 21:59:52 GMT
From: redrobbo600 Sent: 8/31/2005
Medion PNA170/MD95233
Well, finally got round to doing something for real with this little device!
Tried it out in the car a couple of times and been quite impressed. Got myself in a bit of a pickle when I missed a turning and gave it a hard time trying to get back on track. And recent road layout changes took it by surprise, so i had to improvise. But all in all it's not a bad piece of kit - chose reasonable routes and seemed to know where i was all the time.
Have now subscribed to the POI-Warner software pointed to by JK and the speed camera warnings work a treat! There's some really interesting POI categories, some of which I'll be updating (eg scuba diving sites as my daughter has just got her licence), and some of which i won't (eg red light districts!).
Using it on the bike, however, has not impressed me so much. At the weekend went on a short jouney of a few miles into the centre of manchester. mounted it on the sucker stalk attached to the underside of the screen - good position, not obscuring the instruments - and with it hooked up to the speaker for my pmr fixed into my helmet. Sound came over loud and clear and was easy to follow even at speed. which was just as well, as i couldn't see a thing on the screen!
Suspect this wasn't a fair trial as a) it was that time in the evening when the sun is right in your eyes, b) because of a) i was wearing polarised sunglasses, and c) as it looked like rain i had it in the waterproof cover - all in all not really giving it the chance to shine, so to speak. Also, with running off the battery the screen brightness was much reduced. Think I'll fit a cigar lighter socket so i can run it off the bike battery and crank up the screen brightness.
Also very impressed with the MP3 player - very good sound reproduction, and 8 graphic equaliser settings!?
Decided to take the plunge and try the tweaks to convert it to a PDA - again, this has worked very well, and I have it running with access to the task bar and start menu. have installed a couple of bits of software (found space invaders - its great!!!), but there doesn't seem to be much useful stuff around - most of it seems to be specialist apps writen by those who have need of them (eg an engineering calculator - all i want is a calculator!). And because of the different types of pocket /palm/handheld PCs - it's pot luck with some as to whether it'll work on this one or not.
Also, the version of WinCE installed seems very cut down - there's just enough to load the OS and run the apps and that's about it - suspect this is a result of the low storage space built in.
Think I'll try getting some additional memory cards (1Gb a-piece should do) to hold plenty of music and maybe try putting extra software on them - then i can swap the cards depending on whether i want to listen to music, run software or navigate a route.
Will add updates when i've done more with it.
How are you finding yours?
Cheers
Robin
From: Juz_Krewzin Sent: 8/31/2005
Hi Robin,
Glad to see your getting to grips with it all and enjoying the 'extras'.
To be honest, I would not try to use the visuals on the bike. IMHO it's too risky taking your eyes off the road whilst riding - the glare and small screen size plus your visor is going to make visual identification very difficult and you are going to have to concentrate way too hard on the screen instead of your riding - next thing you know you'll be a sad statistic on the governments accident list!
For most of my journeys I've fitted the unit in the top box and fed it through my audio system - no problems with navigation at all to date. If I do have it mounted up front it is only so I can get to it easily for re-routing or to locate a particular location (ie. Car Park or Pizza Hut). Either way, I stop and input/get the details.
ATB
JK
From: redrobbo600 Sent: 9/1/2005
Hi JK,
Yeah... must admit I was thinking about the distraction side of things myself and, like you, would probably only use it for the odd reference stop or reprogram. I did notice when using it in the car that i sometimes had to check what it showed on the map with the road in front of me as the instructions where misleading - being able to see what it meant made a difference. I could see that causing problems. Here's a thought!... maybe i could mount the stalk on my helmet and have the screen hovering just above my face - quick flick of the eyes... ;-)
Cheers
Robin
From: Juz_Krewzin Sent: 9/1/2005
....Here's a thought!... maybe i could mount the stalk on my helmet and have the screen hovering just above my face - quick flick of the eyes... ;-)
Hee-hee
Now that I would like to see......especially if you walked into McDonalds and forgot to remove it...... Nice one
JK